Reading Comprehension

PT112 · S2 · P4 · Q21 South African Law

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With the elimination of the apartheid system, South Africa now confronts the transition to a rights-based legal system in a constitutional democracy.

Topic

South Africa’s shift from an apartheid-era, parliament-dominated legal system to a constitutional democracy founded on individual rights—and the challenges that come with it.

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

South Africa’s new rights-based legal system, though promising, faces several challenges including legal uncertainty, lack of precedent, risk of misapplying foreign laws, and widespread public distrust due to the law’s oppressive history. ( — P1)

P1: Introduction to the Legal Shift

South Africa is moving away from apartheid with a new constitution and legal system based on individual rights. This major transition requires lawyers to change how they interpret the law, since now a constitutional court (not parliament) will have the final say on laws—something entirely new for the country.

P2: Challenges in Adopting a Rights-Based System

It won’t be easy adapting to a rights-based culture. The new bill of rights is quite general and lacks clear legal precedents. South Africa will have to look to foreign legal systems for lessons, but this carries the risk of copying other countries’ laws blindly without considering local circumstances. Still, there’s hope that South Africa can thoughtfully develop legal traditions that fit its own needs.

P3: Public Perception and Trust in Law

Many citizens still see the law as a tool of oppression from the apartheid era and feel that breaking the law is a form of protest. To make a rights-based system work, the government needs to restore trust—citizens have to believe that the law now stands for justice and positive change, not repression.

21.

Which one of the following most completely and accurately states the main point of the passage?

  1. Following the elimination of the

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: need to abandon Wrong Emphasis: too narrow This is borrowing heavily from the final couple sentences of the passage, which is sometimes a trap answer pattern with choice (A). They know these last couple ideas are still ringing in people's ears as they read choice (A). This answer is way too specific and extreme, making it seem like the #1 thing the author had to say was a piece of advice that judges, lawyers and citizens need to abandon their posture of opposition. Lawyers and judges were never said to have a posture of opposition to law; that was just citizens. And this idea is far too narrow. We need a broader sentiment that sounds like "this period of infancy for South Africa's new constitutional democracy is going to be a tricky one when it comes to determining and asserting constitutionally protected rights".

    13% picked this

  2. If the new legal system

    Too Strong: to succeed, they must

    The final sentence of the passage does say "in order to succeed", but then it says "the government will need to show citizens that the legal system is no longer a tool of oppression". It doesn't say "everybody needs to learn to challenge parliamentary decisions". This answer is just a word-salad that takes the beginning of the final sentence and then jams in some wording from the 3rd sentence of the passage. This passage doesn't boil down neatly to one piece of advice. It should just sound like a more general statement that "This new learning period will be a tricky one. Fingers crossed."

    10% picked this

  3. Whereas in the past the

    Wrong Emphasis: too narrow

    This doesn't capture the main gist that "this period where the legal system and the citizenry try to figure out how to navigate their brand new rights is going to be a tricky one". It just tells us a very, very, very narrow fact.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    Despite the lack of relevant

    Why this is right

    This answer is written a little weirdly, but it's our best available. The opening clause captures the discussion in the 2nd paragraph (lack of relevant legal precedents) and the 3rd paragraph (public's antagonistic relation to the law). The main clause captures the information we learned in the 1st paragraph (South Africa moved from a system in which parliament had utmost control to one in which citizens' rights are protected by a constitution). This answer, more than any other, has language in it that maps to each of the three paragraphs.

    Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    65% picked this

  5. While South Africa’s judges will

    Too Narrow

    This answer says something true from the passage, but it's just one of the several reasons why the passage thinks this early period of the new constitutional democracy will be tough. 1. lawyers aren't used to interpretative way of looking at law 2. the multiracial society has a wide range of political and personal beliefs, and the language of the bill of rights is written in very general terms -- how will they find agreement? 3. they will look to interpretations found in foreign law, being careful to remember the unique needs of the countries where those precedents came from vs. the particular needs of South Africa. 4. the citizens historically have a distrustful relationship to the law, so it will take a lot of work to reform that image

    6% picked this

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